116 Pages Lost! Logical Smackdown
I've been thinking on this topic lately and came upon some Captain Obvious realizations that I thought would be fun to dissect and explore.
A Brief History of Crime:
To the uninitiated, there was this guy in early 19th century America by the name of Joseph Smith Jr. (Dec 23, 1805 - June 27,1844). He grew up in a family and surrounding society steeped in magical thinking - folk magic - and that mixed with a heavy protestant fervor for religious thinking. People in his time were some degree of both. Religion and magical thinking are mutually inclusive ideas. In today's culture with so many advances in science to explain things, many believers subordinate the magical to the practical. But during Joseph's time much of religious thought was steeped so much more heavily in a magical world view. Although we can also see remnants of such today in much religious thinking which holds to supernatural explanations, the pervasiveness and degree was much higher in the past, especially with the poorly educated. Joseph and his family were well into both compatible mindsets, especially his father Jo Sr who was quite versed in the occult and folk magic, especially as it related to treasure seeking.
For many years of his young life, earliest we can tell by the age of 14 (1819), JS Jr participated in treasure seeking while also being devoted to religious study and reading the Bible. He led men on treasure seeking hunts, most notably by looking into a peep stone placed in a hat with his face in it to direct their digging (and confidence) toward buried treasure, while citing all the currently popular rules, signs, and warnings of treasure seeking lore (cons). Once the site of the treasure was 'found', obtaining it required doing things in a certain way. If you didn't dot all the Is and cross all the Ts of the current described scenario given by the peeper the treasure would be lost.
His favorite peep stone became a smooth striated chocolate colored stone about the shape and size of a chicken egg, that he obtained in 1822 while digging a well (more likely treasure digging) on the land of another known treasure seeker and friend named Willard Chase. Chase claims he found the stone while digging and brought it out of the hole where Joseph and his brother Hyrum were standing. This account matches the treasure seeking activities of Smith as he rarely dug, but rather guided the diggers (often telling them while peeping into his hat, "Oops! You just missed it, It sank down and to the left 3 feet!"). Smith was fascinated by this curious rock and claimed it had magical properties after putting it into his hat and looking at it. He borrowed the stone from Chase, which borrowing turned out to be theft since it was never returned to him despite his overt requests to have it back.
As for leading the minds and imaginations of men bound for bounty, he was very good at it from a young age, evidence of such is his being sought after from hundreds of miles away and employed to find things using his gift. Many within the treasure seeking mentality and profession thought he had a gift. And he indeed did, but not the one they were thinking about. He was very charismatic and good and reading and leading people's minds according to their desires and weaknesses.
It stands to note that he never found anything worthy of being called treasure with his peeping ... unless you count a feather, or a pin. The feather account, predicting and then finding a tail feather of a bird five feet under, from my examination, only exposes a conscious fraud on the part of JS to gain his employer's confidence.
Flash forward a bit, and now he claims to have found a record written on golden plates, buried in stone box on a hill, and guarded by an angel. He developed this story about this sacred hidden golden record of the ancient Americans over the course of 3-4 years, beginning in 1823 with 3 visitations of an angel on a full moon night of the autumn equinox. The existing accounts of how he discovered and obtained this record contain contradictions and variances, both by him and others involved (as with much involving Smith). At last, in the dark of night, in the fall of 1827 (another equinox) he claimed to have finally earned and retrieved the plates (having done everything necessary as required by the guardian spirit, just shy of crossing himself three times, licking a toad, and spitting in the wind unscathed ... although that he didn't do these things as well cannot be said with certainty. Maybe he did lick a few toads. There is a story of a toad transforming into a spirit and giving him a tremendous blow. Maybe he (Mr Toad) didn't like the licking he was getting and decided to hand out another?).
Along Comes Martin
Joseph Smith had a problem. To carry out this plan to produce this book idea, that being: American Indians were Ancient Jews, a lost tribe that made their way to the new world. A popular topic of pamphlets, books and thinkers of his time, he needed a backer. To get it published (printed and bound) he needed a benefactor to pay for all that. Enter Martin Harris, a local religious man of some wealth, much superstition, and a high credulity for far fetched things.
The following is from The Loss of 116 Pages of Manuscript. (History of the Church, Chapter 3, p. 20-21)
Mr. Harris, having returned from his tour [that of taking some characters JS copied from the plates to hopefully be verified by either Dr. Samuel L. Mitchell, or Charles Anthon of Columbia University - Another topic ripe for Logical Smackdown], left me and went home to Palmyra, arranged his affairs, and returned again to my house about the 12th of April, 1828, and commenced writing for me while I translated from the plates, which we continued until the 14th of June following, by which time he had written one hundred and sixteen pages of manuscript on foolscap paper. Some time after Mr. Harris had begun to write for me, he began to importune me to give him liberty to carry the writings home and show them; and desired of me that I would inquire of the Lord, through the Urim and Thummim, if he might not do so. I did inquire, and the answer was that he must not. However, he was not satisfied with this answer, and desired that I should inquire again. I did so, and the answer was as before. Still he could not be contented, but insisted that I should inquire once more. After much solicitation I again inquired of the Lord, and permission was granted him to have the writings on certain conditions; which were, that he show them only to his brother, Preserved Harris, his own wife, his father and his mother, and a Mrs. Cobb, a sister to his wife. In accordance with this last answer, I required of him that he should bind himself in a covenant to me in a most solemn manner that he would not do otherwise than had been directed. He did so. He bound himself as I required of him, took the writings, and went his way. Notwithstanding, however, the great restrictions which he had been laid under, and the solemnity of the covenant which he had made with me, he did show them to others, and by stratagem they got them away from him, and they never have been recovered unto this day.
So, to recap, after translating the plates of Lehi and arriving at 116 pages Martin Harris begged to take the manuscript to show friends and family as proof to them that he was not being deceived and that this was indeed the Lord's work. It is evident from other accounts that family and friends of Martin were quite critical of his involvement with Smith, especially his wife Lucy. At a certain point in Martin's begging, Joseph relented, seeing that it was necessary to secure Mr Harris's further involvement. The pages were subsequently reported lost by Harris to Joseph Smith. It was rumored that Lucy Harris had burned them. Their fate remains a mystery still.
Consider the fact of Martin's begging to show the work to others. What does this indicate? Would this request be desirable to JS? Certainly not. What would JS have to gain, over what he stood to loose? The only gain he might get is the support of those detractors whose confidence Martin was trying to gain (which subsequently happened with none who viewed the document). JS being quite a bit brighter than Martin at reading situations and people knew this was a low probability, especially given his encounters with Martin's wife Lucy and her nasty demeanor toward him. If those shown the manuscript were to treat it with hostility, derision, or doubt it would hurt his credibility with his benefactor Martin and possibly dissuade him from further funding and involvement. This would be a big loss. Joseph's best bet was to keep Martin isolated from these naysayers and attitudes toward him and his ideas, especially this book venture which depended on Mr Harris.
Also, there was the risk of loss, total or partial of the manuscript, which I hope to show JS knew he could not reproduce. Martin's persistence (God told him no twice, No!) and Joseph's final resignation to his request shows that Martin was having some heavy doubts, even after his supposed positive experience (as reported by JS), with Mitchell and Anthon (an investigation of which shows JS's account of events as highly problematic). It also shows that he was under heavy pressure from family and friends to quit this nonsense with JS (as reported in other accounts). Martin's motivation to share, understanding that he was committed to this venture by his acquired zeal through the adventure of working with the charismatic and convincing Smith, was most likely in hopes of allaying their concerns and getting their support, .
This request by Martin also shows that Joseph was aware Martin might be having doubts, needed reassurance from the opinions of others (second opinion), and was experiencing outside negative pressures. Joseph knew that Martin's effort was one of proof and reassurance, to his family and friends, and by such, if things went well, to himself in the process. In order to keep him happy and on board, JS was beholden to Martin's request. Until it was resolved, this episode would put JS on uneasy terms concerning the future of his enterprise with Martin. With his fears intact and his mind foreseeing a very possible scenario, Joseph swore Martin to utmost care, and to only showing it to the close circle of people he had proposed ... Martin blew it by his carelessness ...Or did he?
The Loss
The loss of 2 solid months of some really good material provided quite a dilemma for JS. It's pretty safe to assume his mind was reeling and he was very upset by the turn of events. How to recover? Was this a test by Martin to see if he could reproduce the pages again? The report that Lucy had burned them might be just a lie to give him confidence to reproduce the pages. Was it a test by Martin's wife Lucy, or someone else who had the manuscript? Were they in cahoots to see if he could reproduce the text again, and when he couldn't, use the original as proof of such?
The idea that JS could reproduce the same text would be a valid assumption on Martin's part, as he described the translation process being a literal character by character event, with confirmation of each word as being correct before proceeding to the next character. He must have had this explanation and understanding from JS. This point is important, could JS reproduce the pages just as anyone translating a language from a source could do? Was it a literal translation as he described the process to Martin and others? Or, was the process more organic and fluid, like that of people claiming to channel text from the ether, and thus dependent on spiritual sight?
So, the big question in Joseph's mind had to be, "Is Martin testing me and my abilities by claiming the loss of the pages?" I think JS was well worried that this was the case, and that he would be tripped up should he try to reproduce the book of Lehi and it didn't turn out like the first account, or worse contradicted it in places. He could not discount the possibility that someone had the pages and would use them against his new translation. If so he would have to abandon the rigid description of translation he had been using, for one more loose and organic. This would however show him to have misrepresented (lied about) the process earlier. Joseph had gone to many machinations to show that this activity was a literal translation, of literal plates, with literal translatory devices (aka spectacles). Reproducing it, only as he was truly able (mind sight and imaginings) could also get him in trouble should he provide specifics (Names, dates, etc) that contradict any specifics in the first version.
Should JS have the ability to do a literal re-translation from the source, doing so would not be an issue. And most people would reason thus. But Joseph was forced to try and get them to reason it in another way.
Joseph's reasoning (given in revelation in D&C 10) for not simply reproducing the pages is full of holes. He states that the lord told him not to re-translate since evil people had laid plans to present the originals (after having altered them) to show that JS's next rendition was different from the original since they had planned to alter the words. By his explanation here and in the above Preface, JS clearly claims that he could produce the text as before (something he would claim to keep his account of a literal translation intact). D&C 10 and the Preface supports the idea that JS was claiming a literal character by character precise translation. This is also the reported understanding of both Harris and Whitmer in describing the translation process - such accounts necessarily coming from JS to them in describing how he did it when asked. Retreating from this would trap him in the lie.
The first thing to be aware of is that the 116 pages of the original manuscript were written by the hand of Martin Harris, in ink, on foolscap paper. So in order to convincingly alter the pages, whoever had them couldn't simply cross out or add words without them being obviously altered. Each altered page presented as the originals would have to be rewritten by Martin Harris in order to appear convincingly altered, and enough so to show blatant errors, not excusable variances that would occur in most re-translations of a language from the same source. This purported scheme of altering the originals necessitates the involvement of Harris. This also supports Joseph's suspicion that Martin was involved in a scheme, possibly put to it by his detractors to test him. Otherwise Smith and Harris could easily show that the 'altered' pages were not in Harris's hand and quickly disprove them as fraudulent. The level of forgery skills required to convincingly rewrite pages of handwritten text and pass them off against a still living person's handwriting is too high a feat to accomplish, especially given the limited forgery skills in a small circle of potential people who could have obtained the manuscript.
The second thing to be certain of is that the "translation" process in actuality was anything but what qualifies as translation. As revealed by his later inability to translate real Egyptian with the Papyri that became the book of Abraham, where he was actually looking at and studying the characters in the process - we have that source, and his translation was an epic fail. We know that the translation of the Gold Plates, by all first hand accounts, did not involve actually looking at the plates, and there is much doubt that there were ever actual real plates, at best possibly a prop that he made in his father's cooper shop which could withstand scrutiny when covered with a cloth. With nonexistent real plates Joseph Smith could not reproduce the manuscript by relying on actual set characters which he was then actually translating. His process of looking at a stone in a hat and seeing a translation with his mind's eye was way more organic, and much more akin to subconscious channeling - and he knew this. He knew he could not reliably reproduce the original manuscript, but he also knew he had told people involved a very concrete and literal translation by the spirit through the stone which gave him a view of the characters on the plates (that he wasn't looking at directly). He possibly used the warning he issued to others about the dangers of viewing the plates directly with your natural eyes (death, curses), to curb or extinguish their curiosity into prying too far into his deception, to explain why he had to resort to the indirect translation at a distance method with his face stuck in a hat looking at a stone and not directly at the plates, as a form of self protection. the plates were so powerful and holy that, like the Holy of Holies and it's Arc of the Covenant, they could not be viewed directly without melting your Nazi face off.
Possible Scenarios:
There is a limited set of possible scenarios relating to the disappearance of the pages, that Joseph Smith would have logically considered:
1. The manuscript is destroyed. Someone hostile toward the idea, possibly to stop Martin's involvement and his losing a lot of money, destroyed the manuscript in an effort to deter or delay the effort. Destroying the manuscript removes the option of outright thwarting the effort and bringing it to a tidy end by conspiring forces, as stated in D&C 3, by proving fraud or deception. This scripture shows that JS did not believe them burned or destroyed, or at least knew that he could not rely on this as a possible scenario. If they were destroyed it would have been better for him in the long run, but he knew he could not depend on that without risk. Even if reliably destroyed, he still had the problem that Harris, his benefactor, was familiar with the first account, so the next one, should he 're-translate' the book of Lehi, would need to be close enough as to not set off any doubts in Martin's mind. Joseph could not be sure about how much, or what details from the first account Martin could remember.
2. Someone among those to whom it was shown, or a third party told about it by those who saw it, stole the manuscript and it is still existent. The motivation for doing so could be as in #1 to slow or deter the effort, but this scenario, as dicussed in #1 would further allow someone opportunity to disprove or call into question the effort should JS choose to re-translate that section, or refer to elements of the previous history incorrectly when proceeding with the story line from Nephi's account. Should they simply produce the original upon re-translation, they would not need to include Martin as an accomplice. The texts would compare miserably, thus pinning Joseph. Martin could indeed, as he professed to Joseph, not know who took it, or where it was.
3. Martin has the manuscript, or knows its whereabouts. This one is actually a subset of 2. Martin Harris, alone or in cahoots, maybe prodded to test the whole affair by those he showed it to, is lying about it being lost to test Joseph Smith's abilities as a way to ensure that it is happening as he is being told. The whole venture sparked by Martin's desire for the opinion of others was a testing of his powers in Joseph's view. There are other events involving Martin and Joseph which show a need in Martin to prove Joseph and his abilities (The Anthon affair, the pin in the straw, replacing the seer stone with another). If we are to believe Anthon's two accounts of the event, Martin didn't come away from that experience as positively as was told by JS. Joseph had to redirect his thinking when he returned.
I believe, by JS's subsequent actions, that number three was his greatest suspicion, or his largest worry about what was going on. This was what he was acting on when he "received" direction on how to recover and proceed. The down time was not the Lord removing the gift, but Joseph trying to figure a new angle forward.
Translation or "Translation"?
Like stated earlier, either the JS could perform a literal translation (it's evident that he claimed such), or it was a more loose version of that word. The rock in the hat method, with the plates covered or absent supports the idea of the latter, making the activity more akin to channeling information out of his consciousness.
So let's assume that JS could reproduce the exact same text according to the standards of actual translation by re-translating the book of Lehi. This then requires Martin Harris or those in cahoots with him, rather than producing the original, to conceive and write a significantly altered story, notably different from the one JS would reproduce, and different from the original 116 pages. This is somewhat far fetched.
By resorting to this reasoning and explanation for not re-translating given in D&C 10, Smith shows his suspicion that Martin Harris is trying to trick him up, since this proposed scheme requires Harris's involvement to produce an alternate version, as shown earlier. He also does not hesitate to call him an evil man in the revelations regarding the lost pages (D&C 3 as well). Evil implies purposeful wrongdoing. We typically don't call people evil who are bumbling or ignorant, especially friends. Evil implies that Joseph thought Martin was scheming against him.
If JS could reproduce the text in a literal translation by looking at the characters on the plates, i.e. if he knew he had a solid source of ancient immutable characters written on plates, and that he could rely on the process to duplicate the information again, then doing so should be without trouble and stand up to testing. People producing the original pages, or altered pages, wouldn't be an issue. This activity of producing the words again, even with slight variances would help, not hurt his case with Martin (his biggest concern) should Martin or someone else then produce the original. It would bolster Martin's trust. We've already discussed the problem with writing forged pages and how easily refuted these would be, especially with Martin still alive.
If however, JS was NOT relying on plates to get his information, and the process was a more an associative imagining, stream of consciousness storytelling type of thing with a rock in a hat, and/or the use of other sources to produce (insert into) the text, then JS has a real dilemma on his hands: How to put the story back together as before. He just spent over 2 months producing 116 pages of a fricking awesome story that he now can't reliably replicate, a story he's now bound to in the mind of Martin Harris. "How much does Martin remember in those 116 pages? Damn, how much do I remember!?" How to recapture that lost material?
From this view, D&C 10 also shows that Smith knew he could not convincingly reproduce the 116 pages that he suspected to still be in the possession of Harris, since should he attempt to "re-translate" the book of Lehi, knowing how he did it the first time, the discrepancies would be to large to support his reported method of translation should Harris or someone else still have the originals and bring them forward. Doing so would call the entire enterprise into question and possibly lose his only benefactor. This was his biggest fear. What a pickle.
What to do? What to do?
Answer, come up with the same stories as told through another person in the BoM who would be familiar with the events, but not be bound to tell them in the exact same way, and forgivable if he should get a name or a date wrong, or not include information that the first guy thought important - Lehi's son Nephi. Now JS could recover all that wonderful lost material still swimming in his head, and retell it through Nephi, keeping the story intact, without the near verbatim requirement of the first telling, and a more fluid choice of topics. Joseph was instructed to now translate from the smaller, abridged plates of Nephi (most likely not mentioned until now), instead of from the larger plates of Nephi that he had translated from earlier. God, of course, knew of Satan's eventual plan and had Nephi make two sets of plates that cover essentially the same material but written a little differently (remember that all subsequently written in the BoM came after the lost pages catastrophe). The catastrophe was also written into the BoM! Wow - What great prophets these guys where!
The intense dramatic dilemma caused by the lost pages is reflected throughout the structure of the resultant BoM, accounts dealing with the loss and explaining a second set of plates by Nephi are recorded withing the BoM (1 Nephi 9, Words of Mormon), but the convoluted reasoning in the 116 pages account gives good evidence of how JS outmaneuvered the possible trickery of Martin Harris or possibly others (who could not convincingly alter the manuscript without Harris's involvement, but could only provide the original).
Summary
He may have outmaneuvered the situation, but doing so he revealed a lot about the nature of his translation (and the book itself), which supports the accounts of using a stone in a hat and not using the plates. It also casts doubts on his claim of having plates that he was getting the information from, because should he have the plates and were he using them as he claimed - translating, reproducing the lost pages, would not have been a problem as he tries to claim it would. Had he been performing an actual literal translation, bringing the material back a second time would not have been problematic should the originals be produced, but rather, doing so would be more faith inspiring.
The lost pages episode exposes Joseph Smith as a manipulative liar and a fraud. At very least we can determine from this and the Book of Abraham exposure, that he lied about the translation process, in a way to give more confidence in him and his abilities, something that con-men do regularly and with ease.
